Solicitor asking for evidence of source of income

drc90

Hi all,

One final panic before we complete on our house.

Our solicitor is asking for proof of where we're getting the money to pay the completion balance (solicitors fees plus stamp duty). We're going to provide bank statements as evidence.

However, these statements are going to show a fairly large amount we received as a gift from a family member. This gift has nothing to do with the house and hasn't been used to fund the purchase whatsoever. It hasn't been declared to the lender either, for this very reason.

Are the solicitors going to take issue with this? We can show we still have the funds to pay the completion balance even without that gift, but I am worrying now that they'll need further proof surrounding the source of the gift and anything like that.

Can anyone put my mind at ease?

Edit: I realise now I might be in the wrong forum (sorry)

ACG

Can you print out a balance from a cash machine and send that?

drc90

That won't be sufficient will it? They need to see where the money came from originally I think.

alchemist.1

I wouldnt worry about. As long you have had enough in the bank account without the gift to cover everything.

theGrinch

sometimes the sols like to track the money back at least 3-months.

drc90

It was gifted two months ago, after exchange (e.g. after deposit was paid). Completion is two days away so if they want to track it back any further, it feels like they're going to struggle to do it that quickly.

We can show that the money has since been spent on other things though. Would that help?

[Deleted User]

drc90 wrote: »

It was gifted two months ago, after exchange (e.g. after deposit was paid). Completion is two days away so if they want to track it back any further, it feels like they're going to struggle to do it that quickly.

We can show that the money has since been spent on other things though. Would that help?

You may be worrying about nothing. I was asked the same question when we bought and my answer was "The money is from savings" and that was the end of the matter.


The conveyancer is now obliged to ask you the question in order to comply with money laundering regulations, probably in the same way as when you take a large amount of cash from the bank - your answer doesn't matter to them, but they record it to prove the question has been asked.

clarkyfromcov

Are you a FTB surely the solicitor would not request income details at this late stage if the deposit/legals was coming from the sale of your existing house

drc90

Yes I am a FTB. We already went through all of this proof of funds for the deposit, now they want separate proof of funds for stamp duty. To be fair I'm a bit annoyed at them leaving it so close to completion to ask.